Having just spoken about many of the effects that long, slow distance (LSD) cardio has on the body, I wanted to take one more post to elaborate upon those points and touch on a few more. We know that whenever we do any activity, force enters the body. If the muscles absorb that force, then it does not get into the joints and we do not have pain. If, however, the muscles do not absorb that force, it then gets into the tendons and ligaments. This force causes damage, and leads to inflammation within the body.
As one fatigues during LSD, the muscles shorten. A shorter muscle absorbs less force, allowing more to get into the tendons and ligaments; this is why we emphasize training eccentrically. But even more fundamental is the question of training velocity. From discussions with one of our mentors, Dr. John Pietila (Dr. J), we have come to believe that muscles absorb force best when working at or near maximal velocity. Therefore, even before fatigue sets in during LSD, the muscles will only absorb a fraction of the force that enters the body. Some of it will then be diverted to the joints with each stride. The result of this process is a continual low-level inflammatory response, which is the physical reason for "overtraining." Inflammation actually causes further damage to these tissues, decreasing their health over the long term.
Turning on sub-maximally during LSD also causes the body to forget how to turn the muscles on maximally, in the right order, and for the right amount of time. The resulting abnormal movement pattern then causes more low grade inflammation, more abnormal change in the nervous system, more inflammation, more change of the nervous system.
In addition, LSD will not create a sufficient amount of correct feedback into the nervous system to stimulate a change toward health. The nervous system is an intricately-connected web, and its function depends on the feedback that it receives from other areas of the body. This lack of feedback is the major reason that paralysis often shortens the lives of those with spinal cord injuries.
As Dr. J is fond of telling us, insufficient input leads to insufficient output. Proper stimulation is required for all of the body's organs to work properly. This is the reason that people doing the Ultrafit program often find they have more frequent bowel movements: the correct stimulation heightens the function of their organs, so that the organs process metabolic waste more efficiently. On the continuum of life, one can only move towards death or towards health. Since these LSD processes are not creating a more healthy individual, they must be accelerating the processes of aging and death.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Cardio Training
Today it seems everyone believes cardio training is necessary for health. I'd like to examine the proposed benefits of cardio in-depth. Let's start with the most important reason: heart health. From there, we'll move on more generally to training, fitness, burning fat, and overall health.
In terms of heart health, let's back up a moment and look at the human body from the perspective of evolution. For survival, the hearts of early human beings needed to be able to power them to do a few things. These early humans needed to walk long distances to find food, carry water from the stream, or build homes, and they also need to be able to escape the immediate danger of predators. Therefore, two speeds are required: moderate and full. The first can be taken care of by walking, dancing, playing catch, working around the house, etc. Anything active. The second is where we'll focus, and that is going from standing still to a max-effort sprint in order to avoid a predator.
Based on the above reasoning, the heart should have evolved to be like a sportscar: capable of humming along at normal speed with a large reserve capacity available when a burst is required. This discussion is also relevant to heart attacks, which occur when the demand on the heart is suddenly increased and the heart cannot meet that demand. In order to give the heart the reserve capacity that it needs to power a human for these bursts, it is necessary to train at or near maximum effort. This can be done in interval training of any type. We happen to prefer extreme isometrics, as well as rebounds and altitude drops, but interval running or bicycle sprints will create these same cardiovascular adaptations. As a side note, the interval running is best done on real ground rather than a treadmill or elliptical; more on that in a later post.
Let's now examine what happens during LSD, or long, slow distance training. During LSD, there is a constant stress on the heart. This constant stress will cause the body to adapt, but not in the way we hope. The body will actually respond to continued LSD training by making the heart, lungs, and blood vessels smaller, so that you can go longer distances more efficiently. During LSD, the dangerous oxidation of LDL is increased. The constant stress also causes cortisol (stress hormone levels) to be chronically high. Men, this means less testosterone! Women, high cortisol levels are equally as bad for you too because they can cause you to retain fat and lose bone and muscle mass.
What about burning fat? It is true that LSD burns fat as fuel during exercise. More important however, is the overall effect over an entire day or week -- most people do spend more time away from exercise (including work and sleep). Interval training will raise the body's metabolic rate, so that more calories will be burned during the whole process of recovering from exercise and the overall number of calories burned will be greater. Burning fat during LSD also signals the body to store fat for future bouts of exercise, and that combined with elevated cortisol levels will make it difficult to lose those extra few pounds.
In closing, I must re-iterate that we are not against all running. Interval sprinting is fine, even encouraged, but LSD running is not. Interval training and Ultrafit training will improve maximal cardiac output (that very important reserve capacity), promote the loss of body fat, and prevent cortisol levels from rising too high, which benefits mental and sexual function, the ability to sustain energy throughout the day, as well as maintaining bone and muscle mass.
There is one other important factor in this discussion, and that is inflammation. For now, let it be known that inflammation increases during LSD. Much more on this in the next post. Thanks for reading, and I welcome any comments, questions, or feedback. Feel free to contact me directly at garrett@arpwaveaustin.com, or leave a comment on the blog.
In terms of heart health, let's back up a moment and look at the human body from the perspective of evolution. For survival, the hearts of early human beings needed to be able to power them to do a few things. These early humans needed to walk long distances to find food, carry water from the stream, or build homes, and they also need to be able to escape the immediate danger of predators. Therefore, two speeds are required: moderate and full. The first can be taken care of by walking, dancing, playing catch, working around the house, etc. Anything active. The second is where we'll focus, and that is going from standing still to a max-effort sprint in order to avoid a predator.
Based on the above reasoning, the heart should have evolved to be like a sportscar: capable of humming along at normal speed with a large reserve capacity available when a burst is required. This discussion is also relevant to heart attacks, which occur when the demand on the heart is suddenly increased and the heart cannot meet that demand. In order to give the heart the reserve capacity that it needs to power a human for these bursts, it is necessary to train at or near maximum effort. This can be done in interval training of any type. We happen to prefer extreme isometrics, as well as rebounds and altitude drops, but interval running or bicycle sprints will create these same cardiovascular adaptations. As a side note, the interval running is best done on real ground rather than a treadmill or elliptical; more on that in a later post.
Let's now examine what happens during LSD, or long, slow distance training. During LSD, there is a constant stress on the heart. This constant stress will cause the body to adapt, but not in the way we hope. The body will actually respond to continued LSD training by making the heart, lungs, and blood vessels smaller, so that you can go longer distances more efficiently. During LSD, the dangerous oxidation of LDL is increased. The constant stress also causes cortisol (stress hormone levels) to be chronically high. Men, this means less testosterone! Women, high cortisol levels are equally as bad for you too because they can cause you to retain fat and lose bone and muscle mass.
What about burning fat? It is true that LSD burns fat as fuel during exercise. More important however, is the overall effect over an entire day or week -- most people do spend more time away from exercise (including work and sleep). Interval training will raise the body's metabolic rate, so that more calories will be burned during the whole process of recovering from exercise and the overall number of calories burned will be greater. Burning fat during LSD also signals the body to store fat for future bouts of exercise, and that combined with elevated cortisol levels will make it difficult to lose those extra few pounds.
In closing, I must re-iterate that we are not against all running. Interval sprinting is fine, even encouraged, but LSD running is not. Interval training and Ultrafit training will improve maximal cardiac output (that very important reserve capacity), promote the loss of body fat, and prevent cortisol levels from rising too high, which benefits mental and sexual function, the ability to sustain energy throughout the day, as well as maintaining bone and muscle mass.
There is one other important factor in this discussion, and that is inflammation. For now, let it be known that inflammation increases during LSD. Much more on this in the next post. Thanks for reading, and I welcome any comments, questions, or feedback. Feel free to contact me directly at garrett@arpwaveaustin.com, or leave a comment on the blog.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
A Little Bit About the Nervous System
Nerves don't just go to one specific area of the body. Rather, the nervous system is an interconnected web in which something that happens in one end of the web affects other parts of the web. In fact, every movement that we do has an effect on the entire body!
What does this mean for training? A few things. First of all, if any part of the body is out of position, it can fire incorrect signals to other parts of the body and sabotage our efforts. It also completely undermines the idea of core training or separating body parts -- the human body is a unit and must be trained like one.
On a more positive note, if the body is in proper position and does any movement correctly, that feedback can cause positive adaptations throughout the entire body. As we will continue to mention, training done in proper position at max velocity will create greater amounts of correct feedback than training at low velocity and/or out of position.
This last principle has many ramifications, particularly in rehab. For example, say you have one broken leg that is immobilized in a cast. Moving the other leg or the arms per the above guidelines (proper position, high velocity) can prevent some of the atrophy in the injured leg and keep that injured leg ahead of where it otherwise would be once the cast comes off.
When it comes to ARP treatments, this knowledge of the nervous system takes on a new light. The ARPwave system works by finding the "short circuit" in the nervous system that is preventing the muscles from absorbing force. Because of the interconnectedness of the nervous system, the relevant short circuit can be anywhere in the body. We have seen a torn hamstring healed by working on a spot on the scapula, and a shoulder injury healed by working on the opposite ankle. The beauty of our system is that we listen to your body to find where the problem really is, and it could be anywhere.
What does this mean for training? A few things. First of all, if any part of the body is out of position, it can fire incorrect signals to other parts of the body and sabotage our efforts. It also completely undermines the idea of core training or separating body parts -- the human body is a unit and must be trained like one.
On a more positive note, if the body is in proper position and does any movement correctly, that feedback can cause positive adaptations throughout the entire body. As we will continue to mention, training done in proper position at max velocity will create greater amounts of correct feedback than training at low velocity and/or out of position.
This last principle has many ramifications, particularly in rehab. For example, say you have one broken leg that is immobilized in a cast. Moving the other leg or the arms per the above guidelines (proper position, high velocity) can prevent some of the atrophy in the injured leg and keep that injured leg ahead of where it otherwise would be once the cast comes off.
When it comes to ARP treatments, this knowledge of the nervous system takes on a new light. The ARPwave system works by finding the "short circuit" in the nervous system that is preventing the muscles from absorbing force. Because of the interconnectedness of the nervous system, the relevant short circuit can be anywhere in the body. We have seen a torn hamstring healed by working on a spot on the scapula, and a shoulder injury healed by working on the opposite ankle. The beauty of our system is that we listen to your body to find where the problem really is, and it could be anywhere.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Training to Eliminate Compensation Patterns
In the previous post we covered what compensation patterns are and how they both cause injury and rob people of their ability to perform at their physical peak. Now, it is time to delve into ways to fix these problems through training. Compensation patterns have been ingrained in the body through repetition. More and more repetitions build up a greater body of information, and in order to rewrite that information we need to input a large amount of new information.
Training is simply a stimulus to the body. This stimulus causes adaptation in the body based on many different factors, with the amount of adaptation being directly related to the amount of stimulus. To maximize adaptation, we want to maximize the information that we put into the body through training; that means high load and high velocity.
At first it may not be safe or effective to train using weights at high load and high velocity. Also, if this training is done before the body is properly prepared, it is more likely to actually reinforce compensation patterns rather than eliminate them.
The most effective way that we've found to prepare the body for efficient movement with minimal compensation is the extreme isometric protocol. Iso extremes, as we call them, involve holding the body in proper position for several minutes. Of course it may take several sessions to work up to being able to hold for this long, and that's fine.
One example is the iso extreme lunge. In this exercise, one gets into a lunge position and pulls maximally with the hamstring of the front leg to drop the hips as low as possible. Pulling with the front hamstring accomplishes many useful things. For example, the concentric contraction of the hamstring activates several reflex arcs. It causes eccentric contraction of both the quad on the same leg as well as the hip flexor of the opposite leg. And what do we know about most injuries? They occur during the eccentric phase of movement. Hmm...
Actively pulling to the maximum range of motion also causes the body to contract the muscles in the exact same way as a max effort sprint. How much feedback (or information) do you think is sent to the brain during a max effort sprint? That's right, a lot! During a five minute iso extreme lunge, we can actually achieve the same adaptation that we would get from five minutes of max effort sprint. This is a big deal, because very few (read: none) humans are able to maintain a max effort sprint for five minutes. If you don't believe it can be done, check out this video.
So, we know that doing the iso extreme exercises sends a lot of information to the brain. But what's the big deal? Well, as mentioned earlier, we need a lot of input to overwrite compensation patterns. While performing iso extremes, the information that we send to the brain is going to ingrain correct movement patterns related to proper position and patterns of muscle activation. Therefore, if we do enough iso extremes, we can actually overpower those built up compensation pattern. This leads to efficient movement. And efficient movement translates to more speed and strength with less effort, as well as fewer injuries.
Training is simply a stimulus to the body. This stimulus causes adaptation in the body based on many different factors, with the amount of adaptation being directly related to the amount of stimulus. To maximize adaptation, we want to maximize the information that we put into the body through training; that means high load and high velocity.
At first it may not be safe or effective to train using weights at high load and high velocity. Also, if this training is done before the body is properly prepared, it is more likely to actually reinforce compensation patterns rather than eliminate them.
The most effective way that we've found to prepare the body for efficient movement with minimal compensation is the extreme isometric protocol. Iso extremes, as we call them, involve holding the body in proper position for several minutes. Of course it may take several sessions to work up to being able to hold for this long, and that's fine.
One example is the iso extreme lunge. In this exercise, one gets into a lunge position and pulls maximally with the hamstring of the front leg to drop the hips as low as possible. Pulling with the front hamstring accomplishes many useful things. For example, the concentric contraction of the hamstring activates several reflex arcs. It causes eccentric contraction of both the quad on the same leg as well as the hip flexor of the opposite leg. And what do we know about most injuries? They occur during the eccentric phase of movement. Hmm...
Actively pulling to the maximum range of motion also causes the body to contract the muscles in the exact same way as a max effort sprint. How much feedback (or information) do you think is sent to the brain during a max effort sprint? That's right, a lot! During a five minute iso extreme lunge, we can actually achieve the same adaptation that we would get from five minutes of max effort sprint. This is a big deal, because very few (read: none) humans are able to maintain a max effort sprint for five minutes. If you don't believe it can be done, check out this video.
So, we know that doing the iso extreme exercises sends a lot of information to the brain. But what's the big deal? Well, as mentioned earlier, we need a lot of input to overwrite compensation patterns. While performing iso extremes, the information that we send to the brain is going to ingrain correct movement patterns related to proper position and patterns of muscle activation. Therefore, if we do enough iso extremes, we can actually overpower those built up compensation pattern. This leads to efficient movement. And efficient movement translates to more speed and strength with less effort, as well as fewer injuries.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Compensation Patterns
There is only one correct way for humans to move. We all have the same muscles, and they are designed to work in one way, with only minor variations for factors like limb length, muscle insertion points, etc. So why, you may wonder, do humans move so differently from each other? The answer is compensation patterns. If you are an athlete or active person, compensation patterns can rob you of your physical ability and must be overcome by proper training.
For our purposes, a compensation pattern is an adjustment in muscle activation made by the body. Sometimes the body adjusts to use different muscles to work around injury, sometimes it pulls new muscles into a movement because the muscles that it wants to use are too weak.
Let's look at one way a compensation pattern can develop. Say you have pain in your hip. This pain is caused by the muscles not being able to absorb force properly, and the body senses that weakness or inhibition. In response, the body causes other muscles to tighten up in order to protect the joint. The conventional thought process is to stretch the tight muscles, but that does nothing to address the underlying cause.
Now let's take the example one step further. If one of these muscles that tightens up is the psoas (one of the primary hip flexors), several problems can occur. For instance, tight hip flexors act as brakes on movements that involve hip extension, like a vertical jump. These brakes will rob you of your power. Tight hip flexors can also lead to anterior pelvic tilt, which will cause the femur to internally rotate. This internal rotation inhibits the functioning of several muscles, such as the hip adductors, which can in turn lead to knee and back pain.
If you are a sprinter trying to run down the track, and your body has to call on three or four muscles to do the job of one, you are going to be expending much more energy than you need to be. To improve your performance, you have two options. The first is to keep training the body to work as well as possible with the compensation patterns, which wastes a lot of effort and energy in activating those improper muscles. The second is to reprogram your nervous system to restore correct movement patterns, with the end result that you will use the correct muscles to run with less effort. We've seen time and again that the second option will produce better results than the first.
In the next post, I will address ways of training the body to move as efficiently as it can with as few compensation patterns as possible.
For our purposes, a compensation pattern is an adjustment in muscle activation made by the body. Sometimes the body adjusts to use different muscles to work around injury, sometimes it pulls new muscles into a movement because the muscles that it wants to use are too weak.
Let's look at one way a compensation pattern can develop. Say you have pain in your hip. This pain is caused by the muscles not being able to absorb force properly, and the body senses that weakness or inhibition. In response, the body causes other muscles to tighten up in order to protect the joint. The conventional thought process is to stretch the tight muscles, but that does nothing to address the underlying cause.
Now let's take the example one step further. If one of these muscles that tightens up is the psoas (one of the primary hip flexors), several problems can occur. For instance, tight hip flexors act as brakes on movements that involve hip extension, like a vertical jump. These brakes will rob you of your power. Tight hip flexors can also lead to anterior pelvic tilt, which will cause the femur to internally rotate. This internal rotation inhibits the functioning of several muscles, such as the hip adductors, which can in turn lead to knee and back pain.
If you are a sprinter trying to run down the track, and your body has to call on three or four muscles to do the job of one, you are going to be expending much more energy than you need to be. To improve your performance, you have two options. The first is to keep training the body to work as well as possible with the compensation patterns, which wastes a lot of effort and energy in activating those improper muscles. The second is to reprogram your nervous system to restore correct movement patterns, with the end result that you will use the correct muscles to run with less effort. We've seen time and again that the second option will produce better results than the first.
In the next post, I will address ways of training the body to move as efficiently as it can with as few compensation patterns as possible.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
ARPwave Step 3: Strength Rehabilitation
After all of the effort our client has put in to get rid of the injury, we want to make sure that the injury does not come back. In fact, we want to prevent virtually all possible injuries. This is accomplished through proper training.
Think of the injury this way: the problem resulted from a long period of time spent building up improper ways of using the muscles. The ARP treatments laid a new foundation by teaching the muscles to work correctly. From that foundation, you can move forward in two possible directions. One is to go back and start using the muscles improperly again until they once more forget how to absorb force and cause another injury. The second is to continually reinforce the proper ways of using the muscles so that they can support a healthy and active life.
Believe it or not, one of the most effective ways to teach the muscles to work properly involves no movement at all. When you are holding an isometric position, you are not moving and are not at risk of re-injury. Therein lies the brilliance! Our isometrics are performed in a very unique way to accomplish several major objectives.
First, by actively pulling into position we are causing the muscles to contract eccentrically. Eccentric contraction is the key to injury prevention, because a longer muscle can absorb more force.
Second, the active pulling induces contractions at very high velocity. So even though we aren't moving, the muscles are turning on in the same manner they would be during a max effort sprint. This allows us to improve performance dramatically in a shorter period of time than traditional training.
One final benefit is that holding these positions trains the body's energy systems. During the hold, the body has to cycle through its anaerobic energy stores and then progress to the aerobic system, which it uses to recharge the exhausted anaerobic stores. Such a stimulus improves the efficiency of the body's energy delivery and is just one more way in which this type of training can benefit everyone who uses his or her body for any activity.
To learn more about this training program, visit our UltraFit Training Site.
Think of the injury this way: the problem resulted from a long period of time spent building up improper ways of using the muscles. The ARP treatments laid a new foundation by teaching the muscles to work correctly. From that foundation, you can move forward in two possible directions. One is to go back and start using the muscles improperly again until they once more forget how to absorb force and cause another injury. The second is to continually reinforce the proper ways of using the muscles so that they can support a healthy and active life.
Believe it or not, one of the most effective ways to teach the muscles to work properly involves no movement at all. When you are holding an isometric position, you are not moving and are not at risk of re-injury. Therein lies the brilliance! Our isometrics are performed in a very unique way to accomplish several major objectives.
First, by actively pulling into position we are causing the muscles to contract eccentrically. Eccentric contraction is the key to injury prevention, because a longer muscle can absorb more force.
Second, the active pulling induces contractions at very high velocity. So even though we aren't moving, the muscles are turning on in the same manner they would be during a max effort sprint. This allows us to improve performance dramatically in a shorter period of time than traditional training.
One final benefit is that holding these positions trains the body's energy systems. During the hold, the body has to cycle through its anaerobic energy stores and then progress to the aerobic system, which it uses to recharge the exhausted anaerobic stores. Such a stimulus improves the efficiency of the body's energy delivery and is just one more way in which this type of training can benefit everyone who uses his or her body for any activity.
To learn more about this training program, visit our UltraFit Training Site.
Monday, November 9, 2009
ARPwave Step 2: Find the Origin of Injury and Repair It
Now that the nervous system is working properly after step one, we finally get to use the ARP. The ARP is an amazing machine, but the machine alone will not achieve results. To maximize the benefit of the machine, we must use it with the ARPwave protocols. These protocols involve movements and exercises designed to rid the body of compensation patterns and restore proper function.
First, we begin by using the ARP to pinpoint the origin of the injury. We'll start by placing a pad on the area where our client feels the most pain, and move the ARP around to find the "hot spot," which is the spot that causes the most intense sensation and is the real source of the problem. More often than not, we find the real problem to be elsewhere. The symptom that you feel is where the problem ended up, not where it began.
Next, we begin treatment with the ARP on the hot spots. Remember that the reason the injury happened in the first place was the inability of muscles to absorb force. We have now found those muscles that could not absorb the force that entered our client's body, and will have our injured client move while the ARP is properly activating those muscles. Most importantly, this combination rapidly reprograms compensation patterns. During this phase the ARP is also helping us achieve joint mobility and build strength, which allows us to compress into one phase what traditional physical therapy will break into several, much longer steps.
As we continue through the ARP treatments, the muscles that could not absorb force rapidly learn to do so. They are able to keep more and more force out of the injured area, sparing it from the further aggravation that can slow the healing process. At the same time our treatments are drawing massive amounts of blood to the area and flushing inflammation out, which allows the body's innate healing mechanisms to work at their highest potential.
Most cases that we see will call for a ten treatment protocol. During this time we usually see a dramatic decrease in pain and a sharp increase in physical function. The end result is that the true origin of the problem is repaired, and we are ready to progress to step three.
In step three, we will see how to prevent injury from happening again in the future.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at garrett@arpwaveaustin.com, or check out our web site at arpwaveaustin.com
First, we begin by using the ARP to pinpoint the origin of the injury. We'll start by placing a pad on the area where our client feels the most pain, and move the ARP around to find the "hot spot," which is the spot that causes the most intense sensation and is the real source of the problem. More often than not, we find the real problem to be elsewhere. The symptom that you feel is where the problem ended up, not where it began.
Next, we begin treatment with the ARP on the hot spots. Remember that the reason the injury happened in the first place was the inability of muscles to absorb force. We have now found those muscles that could not absorb the force that entered our client's body, and will have our injured client move while the ARP is properly activating those muscles. Most importantly, this combination rapidly reprograms compensation patterns. During this phase the ARP is also helping us achieve joint mobility and build strength, which allows us to compress into one phase what traditional physical therapy will break into several, much longer steps.
As we continue through the ARP treatments, the muscles that could not absorb force rapidly learn to do so. They are able to keep more and more force out of the injured area, sparing it from the further aggravation that can slow the healing process. At the same time our treatments are drawing massive amounts of blood to the area and flushing inflammation out, which allows the body's innate healing mechanisms to work at their highest potential.
Most cases that we see will call for a ten treatment protocol. During this time we usually see a dramatic decrease in pain and a sharp increase in physical function. The end result is that the true origin of the problem is repaired, and we are ready to progress to step three.
In step three, we will see how to prevent injury from happening again in the future.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at garrett@arpwaveaustin.com, or check out our web site at arpwaveaustin.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)